Podcast – Cory Doctorow's craphound.com

This week dives into the unexpected alliance between gamers and trusted computing, where gamers, driven by their disdain for DRM, surprisingly teamed up to combat cheating. The complexities of this relationship are unraveled, highlighting the contradiction between supporting anti-cheat measures and hating DRM. Microsoft's recent shift away from certain anti-cheat technologies raises privacy concerns and challenges in user autonomy. The discussion also touches on political coalitions' fragility and how these dynamics play out in the digital age.

This week on my podcast, I read my latest Locus Magazine column, “Marshmallow Longtermism” a reflection on how conservatives self-mythologize as the standards-bearers for deferred gratification and making hard trade-offs, but are utterly lacking in these traits when it comes to climate change and inequality. I’m no fan of Charles Koch, but I agree that his performance at the helm of Koch Industries demonstrated impressive discipline and self-control, and that his enormous economic and political power stems in large part from his ability to resist temptation and reinvest patient money in patient technologies. But Koch’s foresight is extremely selective. Much of Koch’s fossil-fuel for­tune has been spent on funding climate denial and inaction. Koch claims that he sincerely believes that the climate emergency isn’t real or urgent, which is awfully convenient, given the centrality of fossil fuels to Koch’s power and wealth. The rigor Koch applies to evaluating the technical propositions of new, efficient coal extraction and refining processes disappears when it comes to climate science. If Koch held coal-tech to the same evidentiary standard that he applies to the climate, he never would have bought a single piece of gear. MP3 (Image: Mark S, CC BY 2.0, modified)

Delve into the curious world of AI in the workplace, where bosses expect increased productivity, while workers remain baffled by its implementation. A revealing new report shows nearly half of employees have no clue how AI is meant to help them. Discover the troubling phenomenon of 'reverse centaurs,' where AI tools often exploit rather than assist employees. The conversation also touches on the impulsive decisions AI may drive in leadership and the impact on personal connections. It's a sharp critique of modern workplace dynamics.

This week, romance writer K. Renee shares her eye-opening ordeal of being locked out of her Google Docs account, losing access to over 200,000 words without any explanation. She shines a light on the far-reaching implications of tech monopolies that can suddenly erase a creator's work. The conversation takes a deeper dive into the risks of technological control, revealing how easily users can be left powerless by corporate decisions. Together, these stories underscore the urgent need for better protections and accountability in the digital age.

This week on my podcast, I read The reason you can’t buy a car is the same reason that your health insurer let hackers dox you, a column from one of last week’s editions of my Pluralistic newsletter; it describes a monopoly pattern whereby companies execute a series of mergers to dominate a sector, leaving their IT systems brittle and tangled – and vital to the nation. Just like with Equifax, the 737 Max disasters tipped Boeing into a string of increasingly grim catastrophes. Each fresh disaster landed with the grim inevitability of your general contractor texting you that he’s just opened up your ceiling and discovered that all your joists had rotted out – and that he won’t be able to deal with that until he deals with the termites he found last week, and that they’ll have to wait until he gets to the cracks in the foundation slab from the week before, and that those will have to wait until he gets to the asbestos he just discovered in the walls. Drip, drip, drip, as you realize that the most expensive thing you own – which is also the thing you had hoped to shelter for the rest of your life – isn’t even a teardown, it’s just a pure liability. Even if you razed the structure, you couldn’t start over, because the soil is full of PCBs. It’s not a toxic asset, because it’s not an asset. It’s just toxic. Equifax isn’t just a company: it’s infrastructure. It started out as an engine for racial, political and sexual discrimination, paying snoops to collect gossip from nosy neighbors, which was assembled into vast warehouses full of binders that told bank officers which loan applicants should be denied for being queer, or leftists, or, you know, Black MP3

Cory Doctorow's podcast delves into the ineffectiveness and negative impact of DRM systems on society, business, and artists. He discusses his experiences speaking at Microsoft Research, challenges faced by non-tech users with DRM technology, and the implications of anti-circumvention on creativity and innovation. The podcast highlights the historical context of digital music piracy and the resistance towards adopting DRM technology.

This week on my podcast, I read Against Lore, a recent piece from my Pluralistic blog/newsletter, about writing and the benefits of nebulously defined backstories. Warning: the last few minutes of this essay contain spoilers for Furiosa. In the recording, I give lots of warning so you can switch off when they come up. One of my favorite nuggets of writing advice comes from James D Macdonald. Jim, a Navy vet with an encylopedic knowledge of gun lore, explained to a group of non-gun people how to write guns without getting derided by other gun people: “just add the word ‘modified.'” As in, “Her modified AR-15 kicked against her shoulder as she squeezed the trigger, but she held it steady on the car door, watching it disintegrate in a spatter of bullet-holes.” Jim’s big idea was that gun people couldn’t help but chew away at the verisimilitude of your fictional guns, their brains would automatically latch onto them and try to find the errors. But the word “modified” hijacked that impulse and turned it to the writer’s advantage: a gun person’s imagination gnaws at that word “modified,” spinning up the cleverest possible explanation for how the gun in question could behave as depicted. In other words, the gun person’s impulse to one-up the writer by demonstrating their superior knowledge becomes an impulse to impart that superior knowledge to the writer. “Modified” puts the expert and the bullshitter on the same team, and conscripts the expert into fleshing out the bullshitter’s lies. MP3

Exploring the importance of Section 230 in protecting online communities from Big Tech dominance. Discussing the benefits of small online communities and the risks of removing legal protections. Delving into the potential consequences of eliminating Section 230, including increased censorship and the impact on tech market competition.

In the podcast, the speaker discusses the shift in tech companies' behavior towards enshittification due to reduced penalties. They explore how digital platforms manipulate prices, the evolution of tech labor motivations, and bosses' views on behavior. The chapter also includes personal anecdotes about decluttering, gift giving, and excitement for an upcoming event featuring the band 'Talking Heads'.

In this podcast, Cory Doctorow discusses the concept of 'Precaritize Bosses' and how fear-based employment practices impact workers. He delves into the accusations made during the CARES Act, exploring the true motives behind them. Additionally, Doctorow shares insights on worker-boss power dynamics and the dark side of capitalism, highlighting the exploitation by monopolies and strategies for positive change.